Board Meeting – July 19, 2013

IJA BoD Meeting Notes 7/19/13 – 11am (In-board)

Roll call: Present: Lloyd Timberlake, Erin Stephens, Don Lewis, Scott Krause, Veronique Provencher (Turbo 418), Nathan Wakefield, Dave Pawson, Mike Sullivan (note-taker), Kyle Johnson (via Skype)

Meeting called to order 11:23 am ET by Dave Pawson (acting chairman)

Election of the new chair: must be one of the four prior board members still on the board; Dave explains process; Scott makes a motion to nominate Erin, seconded by Lloyd; Erin accepts; Erin is the only nominated candidate. Motion passes unanimously, Erin Stephens elected Board Chair.

Erin (as chair) takes over meeting from Dave.

Reports: FUTURE FEST (Mike) — see attached

Board advises Mike to continue seeking campus venues, as the feedback and experiences here at BGSU this week has been positive. Kyle also recommends seeking out fairgrounds for potential venues.

Veronique Provencher – Turbo 2015 Quebec City; shows photos of Quebec Circus School interiors, other space options, including two big tops outside the QCS and one or two at a nearby park along the river. 3rd Avenue commercial district, dozens of restaurants of all kinds, all within a 5-minute walk of QCS. Downtown business association is an official sponsor for QCS and is ready to sponsor and help IJA/Turbo by closing street for performances, etc. Renegade show is held in the QCS, audiences on floor sitting in a circle with a live band. Sleeping space on lower level of the gym will not work for IJA/Turbo due to length of stay and number of jugglers, but nearby hotel/hostels. Over 300 hotel/hostel rooms within a 15-minute walk.

Mike explains that in the post-9/11 travel world, all US visitors to Canada will need a US passport to be admitted to Canada. A US passport costs $130 presently and takes 2 months to obtain if there are no issues, much longer if there are. This is a concern for all US visitors who do not or will not have a US passport and will impact attendance. Dave and Scott mention that vendors will also be an issue for Canada. Scott said that Air Traffic told him straight up that if IJA goes to Canada for 2015, he will not exhibit. This may be true of many other vendors as well. These things should be taken into account by the Board as plans proceed.

PROPOSED DATES for IJA/Turbo 2015: July 20-25, 2015; EJC dates are unknown for 2015 at this date (Berlin); IJA 2014 does not conflict with 2014 EJC (EJC 2014 is July 19-27, 2014 — IJA is July 28 – August 3, 2014).

Staffing: Veronique Provencher would be festival director and would be paid from a grant from the province/city. She hopes that she will get a grant to have 1-2 interns paid to help her. Vero is paid a salary now by Turbo 418 until next Spring.

Motions: motion to approve all current volunteers on a pro tem basis during which time, during which all positions will be open to letters of interest until the next month’s board meeting. Motion made by Scott, seconded by Lloyd. Discussion: Martin is asked to contact all current volunteers to confirm whether they wish to continue; can also open ideas for new positions to be created, like volunteer coordinator.

Vote: none opposed, no abstentions, motion passes unanimously.

Varia: Scott – Bank of America; frustrations with BofA, have tried to get account x-ferred out of Kim’s name and into Scotts name; Scott is not an authorized signer, which is a problem. Scott urges us to move away from BofA. Scott will research and report for next month’s meeting.

Discussion about iiWii: Erin got a message from iiWii when she landed at fest; she reached out to iiWii asking for better contact; iiWii is very frustrated with Board and actions; this will be the last money iiWii will give IJA; Erin told iiWii they tried on many accounts to contact iiWii, and that the Fund Fun went above and beyond in trying to meet the rules and requirements outlined by iiWii. Only iiWii money for the future will go to IJA fund only – to be used for the future, not Fun Fund, YEP, festival, etc., $50k per year.

Lloyd suggests we prepare a report for iiWii telling all about the good things going on, what the money is going for, etc.

Mike suggests moving to an attorney as iiWii’s contact conduit, preserves the anonymity of the donor and protects their privacy with attorney-client privilege.

Erin reports that every board member that was present when iiWii gave the donation, is now off the board. Should the Fun Fund continue, she believes we need to get clear written expectations from iiWii, so we know how best to meet them.  Erin also brought up the fact that the Fun Fund is full of valued and hard working volunteers, and we need to make sure they are treated respectfully in this process as well.

Scott: IJA is now stand-alone, festival is stand-alone, Fun Fund is stand-alone; IJA is now financially sound and would not fail if donor funding stopped.

Scott brought up the idea of taking the iiWii donation asset off the books, as it is not a donation we officially have in hand. It was set up as a bad debt originally, so removing it does not hurt the IJA’s finances.

Action items: do the report, get the report to iiWii, Erin will talk to Jek Kelly to help build communications.  Scott will also  research potential investments for the portion of money going towards future of the IJA.

Fest director 2014: Need to solicit interest as soon as possible. Thom is still the PR director, maybe he can put out the word on Facebook and eJuggle; Martin can also send out a special newsletter/notice to all members.

Next Board Meeting date: Erin suggests holding 2x meetings/month; one regular BoD conference call; another one, less formal, just for vision planning, non-business strategy, planning, check-ins, etc. 1st Sunday night of the month for informal meeting.

Erin proposes informal meeting for Sunday August 4th, 8:30pm ET; next BoD meeting date will be set then. Tentative date for regular BoD is 8:30pm 8/18, Sunday.

Motion to adjourn: Scott; motion passes with no discussion. Adjourned 12:33pm ET.